In just a little more than a century, man has evolved from the days of the horse and buggy, blasted through the era of steam power, witnessed the taming of electrical energy, harnessed nuclear energy and the internal combustion engine.

Have you ever had a dream, a thought from so deep in the back of your mind, a mere vision that keeps reoccurring? It might have begun with the concept of entwining the past with the present. How can that be done? For one such individual that received the calling, it came in the formation of "The Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit." 

The challenge was to bring back the carnival-style atmosphere of the traveling funny car shows of the ‘70s and ‘80s. The match races, the grudge races of the two lane blacktop. Heads up, ‘run what cha' brung’, kind of drag racing.

Dennis Salzwimmer settles into his role as the Grand PooBah, presiding over the 2016 Season Wrap-Up.

Dennis, "the Grand PooBah", Salzwimmer put his dream into action almost ten years ago. In order to help breathe life into the nostalgia drag racing movement of the East Coast and Midwest, Denny founded the concept of the Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit, which has become a helping hand in keeping America's fastest motorsport on asphalt alive and well. With sponsors like, Good Vibrations Motorsports, Pace Performance, Peak  Products, S & W Race Cars among many others, Denny would go on to formulate weekend events from St. Louis, Missouri, to Epping, New Hampshire, booking various pairs of cars or multiple teams at events being hosted at NHRA and IHRA membership tracks. Imagine trying to work out all of the logistics of scheduling all of the bookings for multiple teams in different cities. All the time and effort it takes to make the phone calls, emails, text messages and fill the roster for sixteen different drag racing events.

With the successful wrap up of their ninth season, the GLNFCC held their annual year-end meeting and dinner at the Quality Inn & Conference Center in Akron, Ohio, on November 19th to discuss the 2016 season of events and make plans for the 2017 nostalgia drag racing season.

A nice crowd on hand with teams of: Crazy Bear, Damn Yankee/Gold Coast Charger,
Detroit Thunder/Red Barn, Quarter Pounder, Solid Rock and Warpath represented.

Out of the sixteen different GLNFCC events planned for 2016, fourteen of the events went off without a hitch. Two of the events were held accountable to the mercy of an uncooperative Mother Nature and were unfortunately rained out. The Funny Car Nationals that were held at Quaker City Motorsports Park in Salem, Ohio, during the Memorial Day weekend, set the stage as the premier event for Midwest and East Coast Floppers.

With over 120 quarter mile passes made this season, the GLNFCCcrowned nine different event Peak Products winners, ten different runner-ups and seven different "Good Vibration's Motorsports" Reaction Time winners. Award plaques and a trophy or two were handed out after the buffet dinner by Denny while several raffles were held to help benefit the GLNFCC organization. 

Next season will be another jam packed year of nostalgia drag racing. From two car, four car and eight car fields, the action will be fast, straight and exciting. Another sixteen events are being planned, so make sure you keep visiting the GLNFCC web page so you can make your event attendance plans early. There is also talk of a full 32 car field for the 10th Annual Funny Car Nationals in May. That would make it the largest gathering of a fiberglass forest east of Bakersfield.

Make plans to spend your 2017 Memorial Day weekend with the drivers, crews and families of the Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit and your friends here at Nostalgia Drag World Magazine.